In recent years, lithium secondary batteries, nickel hydrogen batteries, and other secondary batteries have increased in importance as vehicle-installed power supplies or power supplies for personal computers and portable terminals. A lithium secondary battery in particular is lightweight and exhibits a high energy density, and may therefore be used favorably as a high output power supply for installation in a vehicle.
A typical configuration of a lithium secondary battery includes an electrode in which a material (an electrode active material) capable of occluding and discharging lithium ions reversibly is formed on a conductive member (an electrode current collector). For example, a carbon-based material such as graphite may be cited as a negative electrode active material used in a negative electrode. Further, an elongated sheet member having copper or a copper alloy as a main body may be cited as the electrode current collector (also referred to hereafter as a “negative electrode current collector”) used in the negative electrode. This type of negative electrode for a battery is manufactured by, for example, dispersing the negative electrode active material and a thickener through an appropriate solvent (water, for example) and kneading a result to prepare a negative electrode active material layer forming paste, coating the negative electrode current collector with the prepared paste, and then drying the paste. Patent Literature 1 to 3 may be cited as prior art relating to the manufacture of this type of electrode.